Yulia Timoshenko announces intention to run for Ukranian presidency
27 March 2014, 16:28 -- Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna party and former prime minister of Ukraine, says she intends to run for Ukraine's presidency. 'Yes, I plan to run,' she told a press conference in Kiev on Thursday. Tymoshenko said she intends to ask to be nominated as a presidential candidate at the Batkivshchyna congress on March 29. Early presidential elections are scheduled in Ukraine on May 25.
Tymoshenko shot to international fame in 2004 when she joined Viktor Yushchenko in leading massive street protests in the Ukrainian capital against the results of a presidential election, in what became known as the Orange Revolution.
She served two terms as prime minister under President Yushchenko and narrowly lost to Viktor Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential election.
In October 2011, she was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office after negotiating an allegedly unfavorable gas deal between Russia and Ukraine in January 2009. Her supporters have always argued the charges were politically motivated, although many Ukrainians remain wary of her aggressive political style and are suspicious of her substantial personal wealth.
Tymoshenko began serving her sentence at the end of December 2011 in a prison in the eastern city of Kharkov, but was moved to a hospital in May 2012 after complaining of severe back problems.
She was released from jail by a parliamentary decree on February 22 and later that day addressed a rally in Kiev's Independence Square, but the crowd's tepid reception led political observers to suggest her presidential fortunes may not be favorable.
Russia has denied the legitimacy of the Ukrainian parliament, which called for the early election after ousting president Viktor Yanukovych during a coup last month.
Tymoshenko likely to advocate military solution to Ukrainian conflict with Russia, if elected
If Tymoshenko comes to power, she will likely advocate a military solution to the conflict, said German lawmaker Niels Annen. But all of her outbursts against Russia, like the recently leaked phone conversation, seem to be just populist statements to win support from the far-right ahead of the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine. Details of the phone call are shocking and do not fit her image as a mature woman in a wheelchair, as she appeared in February before the protesters on Maidan after her release from prison.
The scandalous leaked phone conversation between Yulia Tymoshenko and deputy from the Party of Regions, Nestor Shufrych, has greatly harmed her political reputation. Tymoshenko and Shufrych discussed Vladimir Putin's State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly concerning the results of the Crimean referendum and the return of the peninsula to its historic homeland. Commenting on Putin's speech, Tymoshenko expressed her extremely negative attitude towards Russian people, whom she suggested should 'nuke' Putin and Russia. Tymoshenko threatened to leave a 'scorched earth'.
Later Yulia herself bravely confirmed that this phone conversation had taken place. However, she preferred to reject her phrase about the 8 million Russians in Ukraine.
German politicians warned their Ukrainian colleagues about the unacceptability of such discreditable statements. In particular, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, reminded them about the necessity to take into account certain limits to language that must not be crossed.
An expert on foreign policy from a party represented in the Bundestag, Philipp Missfelder, called the statements by Tymoshenko inadmissible as they lead to violence, according to reports in Deutsche Welle. His colleague Niels Annen described the Ukrainian ex-premier's statements as irresponsible and inflammatory. He also said that the Tymoshenko's words raise concerns that, if she headed the government, it would likely advocate a military solution to the conflict.
It seems that Tymoshenko herself has put a crimp on any chance of becoming Ukraine's president. Three days after this outspoken conversation Tymoshenko returned from a German clinic to Kiev and took part in a live political talk show aired on the First National Channel, where she again made a number of anti-Russian statements. In particular, she called Vladimir Putin enemy number one and accused Russia of launching a war against Ukraine.
By the way, there was even a single shot from the Russian soldiers, not to mention that it was Crimea that initiated the referendum, giving the Crimean people the chance to choose their own future. But Tymoshenko doesn't seem to care about that at all. Moreover, Tymoshenko spoke of the necessity for Ukraine to join NATO despite the fact that Ukraine has not been invited to join, as President Barack Obama informed reporters after EU-US summit.
Nevertheless, for the time being Tymoshenko is not a leader in the ratings despite the fact that she is one of three candidates with the best chances of winning the presidential election on May 25, but she is far behind the leader of the 'Solidarity' party, Poroshenko.
According to the survey, recently conducted by the SOCIS Center of Social and Marketing Research, 24.9 percent of Ukrainians support the parliamentarian Petr Poroshenko, 8.9 percent would likely vote for UDAR party leader Vitaly Klitschko, while Yulia Tymoshenko received only 8.2 percent.
When examining the ratings dynamically, we see that the Poroshenko's popularity is increasing, while Tymoshenko's is gradually falling in recent times.
Therefore, Tymoshenko doesn't have mass support in Ukraine. The times when almost half of all Ukrainians voted for her have slipped into oblivion.
As for the West, that repeatedly insisted on her release, it seems to be putting its stake on other candidates.
Since the times of the protracted conflict between President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko, serious disappointment and even irritation towards representatives of the old-school 'orange' team has been formed in the US and the EU's political leadership. Not only did the West not back Tymoshenko, but it reacted doubtfully to her intention to run in the election.
The West needs a legitimately elected partner, who will be able to carry on a reasonable dialogue and carry out all necessary reforms in Ukraine after the presidential elections on May 25.
Voice of Russia, Interfax
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